Just Like Magic
by Cleopatra Antoinette
Summary: A series of short ficlets about the journey of the  inept  Grey Warden Solona "Lonnie" Amell, and what she and her companions suffer together. Usually because of her. Drama, adventure, romance, comedy, and of course flaming darkspawn. Reviews welcome.
1. Trust Issues

This is just a collection of flashes from DA:O from the life of my Grey Warden, Solona "Lonnie" Amell. Enjoy. I have tried to keep each under 300 words, as 100 words is utterly impossible for me.

Rated T for language and sexual references.

I don't own Dragon Age. Very sad.

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><p>Although Lonnie knows in her mind they had taken her from her family and home, she cannot really remember enough of her old life to truly resent the Templars for it. She knows that they watch the mages carefully to make sure nothing bad happens (although she has yet to know what the bad things are) but they aren't really mean to <em>her<em>.

It wasn't until one day when she sees a Templar forcing a young girl into an empty room and the girl is crying _No, no, please don't, please_, that she realizes that something is very wrong. But when she tells the Knight Commander, he cuffs her and tells her not to lie, and when she goes to tell the First Enchanter and they find the girl, it is too late and although Irving shouts at Greagoir and the Templar is executed and the girl (an elf, Surana, who becomes her good friend) is taken care of and helped, Lonnie will never look at a Templar the same way again.

And so years later when she helps Jowan and he ends up betraying her after all, she feels no shame when she looks at Greagoir and tells him to fuck off because he doesn't care about the mages anyway and likes rapists. He punches her in the face, but she feels an inner glee about it.


	2. Told You So

Lonnie may not be the tallest staff in the bunch, as they say in certain Circles, but she isn't stupid, and when Duncan tells her that there is a _super secret joining ritual,_ she has the distinct feeling that he thinks she is, because there's no way he could expect her to NOT be suspicious.

The fact that there is a former Templar among the other recruits does not help her at all. But she puts it aside as they go into the Wilds and tries to get over the fact that Darkspawn are disgusting, and Ser Jory keeps looking at her like she's going to turn into a monster and eat them, and that when they meet the apostate mage and her mother, she gets the feeling that she can trust them more than the people she's with because they'd understand her.

Then later as Duncan forces them to drink Darkspawn blood and she manages to survive, she tries to ignore the other voice in her head that said _Told you so_.


	3. Together

In the beginning of the game for a mage, there's an apprentice who will talk about how magic is a curse and she hates it. I decided to run with that.

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><p>Lonnie knows that outside of the Tower there are supposed to be people who are afraid of mages and they are part of the Chantry, and the Chantry took them all away from their families, but she has never met a mage who is ashamed of their magic until she meets Keili. It isn't until after she talks to Keili that she considers that the Maker might actually hate her, which is why she has magic. The thought is very disturbing to her until she decides that if the Maker does hate them, it really isn't anything new since everyone else supposedly does too.<p> 


	4. Tact

Loathering is slightly more exciting than Lonnie had been lead to believe; the giant Qunari person and the crazy red-haired lady made her think that perhaps the world was even more random than everyone had warned her in the Circle.

Later than night as Leliana described her vision to the group around the campfire, Lonnie seemed genuinely curious about the experience. "Had you eaten lyrium before you had this vision?" Lonnie asked Leliana politely after she had shared to the group. Morrigan had snorted into her soup and Alistair had to bite down on his hand to keep from laughing. Leliana can say nothing as her mouth is hanging wide open, and then Lonnie looks over at Bhodan and Sandal and asks "Do dwarven women have beards? People said things in the Circle, but I've never seen any myself except for you."

Alistair considers for a moment that perhaps putting her in charge of the group to get people on their side was not the brightest idea he's had.


	5. Directions

Lonnie is familiar with the concept of a map. She's seen them, of course, in the Circle Tower, hung up on walls like pictures, and she knows this city is _here_, and that lake is _there_, but when she learned them, she knew she would never leave the Circle to see them, so why bother remembering?

Now, as she is huddled over a map trying to figure out _Where the name of Andraste's perky tits are we?_ she considers that perhaps forgoing geography class in the Circle was ill-advised.

"I think we go left here," she calls out to Alistair, who is looking down one road, and to Leliana, who is trying to find a sign-post.

"I don't think so," the redhead calls back to her in her lovely accented voice. "I remember when we checked where we were last night, we were supposed to take the road that went right."

"We were supposed to take two rights, then a left, and then another right," shouts Alistair back at them. "Maker, why are women so bad at directions?" Cat, who is standing with Alistair, gives a little growl in defense of his mistress. "What?" he says, looking down at the dog. "Don't pretend like it's not true."

The animal begrudgingly gives a huff, but make no noise after that.

…

Later, Zevran, who had been planning the ambush they would soon run into, would tell them that he could hear them shouting where he was and had wondered if he was about to kill the wrong people, because surely no Grey Warden could be quite so inept with directions.


	6. Don't you know?

Lonnie knew from a logistical standpoint that she really should have killed the elven assassin. It was just common sense to do that. Unfortunately, the novelty at being called "utterly gorgeous" and "deadly sex goddess" override that part of her.

Later, as the elf is flitting around, flirting and joking and just generally making everyone uncomfortable, she goes up to him and asks "Zevran, who taught you how to flirt?"

He blinks at her and then grins. "It is just practice from trying to charm countless beauties such as yourself of course."

"See, like that," Lonnie says. "I mean, it's obvious that you're lying, but it sounds _nice_. How do you do that?"

He shifted, putting his weight on one leg, crossing his arms, and looking highly amused. "And who says I am lying?" The mage stares at him for a moment and it occurs to him that she may actually think that he _is_ lying. And that will not do. "Never would I lie about such a serious thing, my dear Warden."

"I'm not going to kill you, Zevran. You can stop joking about my looks now."

She will remember that moment as one of the very few times she will ever see Zevran look genuinely surprised by her when he says, sounding completely serious "But don't you know you're beautiful?" She will also remember the moment as the first of many times he will surprise her.


	7. Slight Possibility

Lonnie and Sten had what the others would call an "interesting relationship" that bordered somewhere between Barely Tolerated and Outright Disdained. The titles came from Sten's actions, as Lonnie did not seem to understand that as a mage, the Qunari found her only slightly more appealing than a rotting corpse trying to have sex with his leg. And that was on a good day.

That's how it was in the beginning at least. Somewhere along the line, she had managed to not only work past his phobia of all things that could create sparks from their fingers, but he had actually approached _her_ a few times. Morrigan hypothesized that it was because they both stupefied the other. She didn't have to say that the giant's concern with how in the hell the sheltered mage was supposed to lead them was shared by all because, really, anyone who managed to trip over her own two feet an average of four times a day could hardly be considered a threat by anything, let alone darkspawn.

And yet, despite the fact that he would probably rather break her neck than continue to have to put up with her, Lonnie traveled all over to try to find the taciturn giant's sword. When she handed it to him, her smile brighter than the noonday sun, he stared at her speechless for a moment before managing to thank her in his own way.

Afterwards as Lonnie cheerily walked away, humming to herself, Sten entertained the idea that maybe someone with such a drive to accomplish a small thing might actually be able to succeed at the big thing too. It was a slight possibility, but more than he had given her credit for before.


	8. Moonshine Stew

This could be fixed. This could be salvaged. Lonnie told herself that she was not the first person in this position, that surely others had gone through the same problem and had worked it out.

And yet, as she stared dolefully into the foul-smelling muck that she had tried to make that night's dinner, she knew she had to admit to herself that there was just no salvaging it. It was brown, lumpy, and smelled a bit like old socks, although she honestly had no idea how it got that way. She poked it with a spoon, only to see it jiggle. "Ugh," she said to herself, which pretty much summed up the whole thing.

Shale was standing next to her, also staring into the pot. "It looks rather unhappy," the golem said. "Perhaps because It lacks any sort of usefulness outside of being a Grey Warden."

Lonnie gave Shale a look that said "Eat dirt and die." Of course, being made of stone, Shale missed it.

Oghren shambled over and stared into the pot as well. "Well, Warden. There's only one thing that could make this better.

"Oh yeah?" asked Lonnie wryly. "And what's that?"

Oghren responded by taking four bottles of what smelled like highly potent alcohol of some sort and proceeded to dump all of it into the pot. There was a long, loud hissing noise, a huge bubble formed, popped, and a noxious smell arose from the cauldron. Then the bottom melted and the contents collapsed onto the fire, instantly extinguishing the flames. The three stared at it for a moment before Oghren spoke.

"Well, it's not like you could eat it before anyway."


	9. Antivan Wrestling

As a scholar of the School of Spirit, Lonnie is fully aware of the spell Virulent Plague and what it does. In theory it infects people with an illness that can be spread to others, injuring them as well. The part that she unfortunately forgets is that it also makes people explode in a verifiable wave of gore. She is reminded of this when she casts the spell at a bandit who is about to slash Zevran across the back. The man is distracted by the sudden crawling feeling he has in his chest, which gives the assassin time to stab him the heart and kill him.

And then the man bursts into a cloud of blood and bone and chunks of meat that go flying into the air and completely covers the poor hygienically minded elf from head to toe.

Zevran and Lonnie both stand there in complete shock, Lonnie with her mouth wide open and Zevran with eyes as wide as dinner plates. He is literally dripping with blood and his perfectly tailored hair has what looks like bits of brain in it. For once in his life, he is utterly speechless.

Lonnie covered her mouth with her hand and stares at him. Then she gives a snort. Zevran stares at her. She snorts again and starts turning away.

His eyes widen and his mouth drops open. "Are you… you're laughing!"

"No, no, of course not!" But something that sounds suspiciously like a snigger escapes and his eyes narrow dangerously. "You _are_."

Wynne and Sten are on the other side of the battlefield taking stock and looting the corpses when they hear a high pitched screeching noise. They turn to see Lonnie being chased by what looks like a walking piece of meat. Wynne is prepared to throw Stone Fist at the creature, but then she hears what sounds suspiciously like…

"Sten," she asks. "is that creature speaking Antivan?"

Lonnie is screaming "No, no, no! It was a joke! I'll use magic to clean your hair! I'll lend you my soap!"

"Why are you running, Warden? I just want to give you a hug! And perhaps a lesson in wrestling!"


	10. Attached

Lonnie is something of a rarity in the Circle- a virgin. It's not that she hasn't had more than enough opportunities to have sex; she's at least somewhat attractive, according to what she's been told, and she's not really a prude. She's been felt up and made out and done pretty much everything except the actual act itself, so she _knows_ how to make someone feel good, both with her hands and with magic tricks. Her friends talked about their experiences with her and the things they did to make it pleasurable, so Lonnie is fairly certain that if she wanted to, she could easily satisfy someone well. The problem was that she was one of the kinds of people who could not engage in that sort of thing without getting attached.

Getting attached was possibly one of the most dangerous things to do in the Circle. She had seen couples completely in love forced away from each other, children taken from their parents and secret loves shattered because of one thing or another, just because they were mages. And so, for someone like her who equated sex with affection and permanent ties, sex was dangerous. In the Circle, when she explained to people why she couldn't sleep with them, they would understand and look at her with sympathetic eyes.

Her problem has not gone away now that she's outside the Circle; in fact, it's worse, because she has become attached to someone without actually doing anything with him. This would make her happy, but the person she wants doesn't want her _quite like_ she wants him. She has to tell Zevran that she cannot sleep with him because she would make him miserable, because she wants more from him that he can give, and it would be wrong to chain him down like that. She doesn't wait for his response and goes to cry quietly in her tent.

The next morning as they walk, Alistair comes up next to Lonnie and puts an arm around her, letting her lean against him. He does not judge as she sniffs softly and instead says things to make her laugh.

She does not notice the elf standing in the back, watching her figure with something like regret in his eyes.


End file.
